The new livestock pup.

The new pup

She is being trained up to be our guardian livestock dog. Our last dog was taking out our animals as well as keeping predators at bay. A big problem since we wanted to keep the farm animals alive and keep the woodland critters in the woods. Since she has been gone we have had more and more predator problems.  Animals are  approaching the barns, coops, and house.

She will be able to keep animals at bay using non lethal means, most animals even wolves will back off from this breed when confronted and search out easier prey. Which is great, that way we will not have to kill those woodland creatures that are just looking to eat on our farm, they will just learn to go elsewhere where prey is easier. #notonmyfarm!

We will be raising this beauty right so she will protect the land. In our last dog's defense she was not the right breed nor was she ever trained to guard livestock. This pup will be trained to guard the animals.

If you click the video above it is great one about a family using these dogs on their farm

This was not originally built to be a dog enclosure BUT nothing here on the farm gets used for what we thought we would use it for. This was built to keep the free range chickens and deer out of my garden. Last year our crop was devastated.I have also only gardened 3x prior in my life so it was a of my lack of skills too.

Now there is a shelf to put potted plants on and the pup can use the bottom.

Reading about special needs of the guardian livestock dog we realized that we needed an outdoor enclosure to keep her in where she can see and socialize with our other animals with out hurting them when we are not around to correct her.

We did our research for a long time to find the right dog for our farm we were lucky to find a breeder of a Great Pyrenees/ Anatolian Shepard mix. ( the best of both worlds)

It will be a long process to raise her right but the rewards are great.


Chicken check in:

These chickens knock over the food containers everyday after the food is gone and they are forced to go eat greens and bugs. Mad that  I am making them go hunt for their food and do what comes naturally and not just wait for expensive drive thru chicken feed.

Why I stepped back from social media.

I hope my friends take the time to read this....


I have decided that for me, social media is something I need to step back from. It is necessary though to connect with customers for our farm and to stay connected to some homeschool pages that I run.


How I used facebook:
I used it as a way to get social interaction with adults. I am home all day with 5 kids and and husband who works long hours and goes out of town monthly. So, for me it was a way to maintain sanity and have adult conversations.

Something changed over the years on facebook, or maybe I changed. I started to find myself itching to check my newsfeed more and more often ( like an addict looking for a quick fix of happy) I found myself not getting any "happy" from it.

I started to find my self wishing for more and more of what I do not have.

I started to feel like this cow! 

(on one side stuck and wanting to reach the otherside)

It seems that the people I am friends with on facebook post highlights of their seemingly perfect lives. Their awesome husbands, the new stuff they just bought. the great vacations they take, their very perfect lives. I would sit  there with chicken poop on my boots in my dirty outdated 1970's house feeling inadequate.

I kept  checking facebook,..... spending WAY more time than I ever imagined looking more and more for my "happy" only to find less of it. Ignoring  the giggles and joy of the children outside catching dragonflies .A  nasty crazy drug addiction.. Facebook, has been my drug addiction and it was getting bad!

So I came up with a way to limit my facebook usage. I have unfollowed all my friends. Yup, every single person so if you do not see me like or comment on something you post it is because I cannot see it. If I want an update on a friend I will need to go to their wall to see it, or just give thenm a call.There is this button on Facebook where you can stay friends but all the posts of your friends will no longer show up in your newsfeed.

So now when I check Facebook all I see are the posts from private groups I am in.

This has been my happy compromise.

Now on to living life instead of watching everyone else live theirs.